Origins and History
The earliest record of this rhyme is in a manuscript of around 1805, which contains only the first verse. There are references to a children's game called "Bo-Peep", from the 16th century, including one in Shakespeare's King Lear (Act I Scene iv), but little evidence that the rhyme existed. The additional verses are first recorded in the earliest printed version in a version of Gammer Gurton's Garland or The Nursery Parnassus in 1810.
Older inhabitants of Ninfield, East Sussex (a former smuggling center) will tell you that Bo-Peep was its most famous resident. The story goes that her sheep were walked across the shore to disguise smuggler's footprints. The valley to the south of the A269 in Ninfield joins the Pevensey Level marsh area and was small-boat navigable until the Late Middle Ages.
Read more about this topic: Little Bo Peep
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